List of scientific errors
Despite being a documentary series, several paleontological inaccuracies appear throughout some of the shows. * Cephalaspis was not the ancestor of gnathostomes (jawed vertebrates) as they appear in the fossil record before Cephalaspis. Furthermore, even though Cephalaspis was found only during the early Devonian, it is shown being pursued by the Late Silurian Brontoscorpio. * Pterygotus was neither 3 meters long (being actually 2.3 meters), nor the largest arthropod, either its cousin Jaekelopterus rhenaniae, or the giant myriapod, Arthropleura, was * Diictodon, Gorgonopsid and the Labirinthdont are only known from South Africa, yet in episode 3 they are portrayed living with Scutosaurus, which have only been found in Siberia, However, since the continents were all connected at the time it is conceivable that Gorgonops could have lived in Russia too, but there is no evidence for this. * In the series, Petrolacosaurus is incorrectly identified as an ancestral synapsid, when in fact, it was an early diapsid and could therefore not have been the ancestor of any synapsids (e.g. Edaphosaurus). The most basal synapsid, Archaeothyris, would have been a more suitable candidate. * In the Discovery Channel version, the narrator says the following about Euparkeria: "Giants such as Tyrannosaurus and Brontosaurus can trace their family tree back to this little insect eater." The name Brontosaurus is invalid; the valid name is Apatosaurus. (In the BBC version Diplodocus is said, which is correct.) * Euparkeria ain't an ancestor of the dinosaurs, being basal to crocodile-bird split. *''Velociraptor'' May not have lived in heavily forested areas. All of the sites where Velociraptor fossils were found suggest that the animal lived in sandy, arid environments with many sand dunes (with one specimen apparently being smothered to death by a sand dune ). *''Ornitholestes'' May not have had a nasal crest. However, this discovery was made after the program had been made. *''Ornithocheirus, despite being the sky king, was not the largest known pterosaur, ''Quetzalcoatlus was. *''Giganotosaurus'' was depicted on the show as the largest carnivorous dinosaur, though current size estimates favor Spinosaurus. *''Argentinosaurus'' is said to have been the biggest dinosaur. That record may actually belong to poorly known forms such as Bruhathkayosaurus or Amphicoelias fragilimus. *''Allosaurus'' was not the biggest Jurassic carnivore; that record belongs either to Torvosaurus , Epanterias or Saurophaganax (although Epanterias is argued to be a big specimen of Allosaurus). *It is unlikely that Utahraptor''s Live in europe. *Tylosaurus'' is depicted as a "sixty foot giant" in Sea Monsters, but no mosasaur has been found over 49 feet in length (surprisingly the book states 49 feet). *''Liopleurodon'' was overestimated to be 25 metres (82 feet) long and 150 tons. These lengths were based on what was at first believed to be tooth marks from a juvenile Liopleurodon. It was more likely to have grown to 12 metres (39 feet) long. In Walking with Dinosaurs: The Next Chapter, they fixed this with a more reasonable 40 feet long. *''Cymbospondylus'' was not the largest ichthyosaur, the whale-like Shonisaurus was. *The Neanderthal was not the last survivor of the genus Homo, besides humans: the highly debated Homo floresiensis was. *Some paleanthropologists believe the African H. heidelbergensis is merely an archaic form of modern humans. *Some paleanthropologists do not recognize H. ergaster and H. erectus as separate species. Even if they were separate, some believe H. erectus did survive and evolved into the highly controversial Homo floresiensis. *''Mei'' was not 7ft long. *''Microraptor'' wasn't just the ancestor of birds, but also a close relative. *It's unlikely that Tyrannosaurus rex could run at 40mph. *If Microraptor glided with its hind legs sticking to the sides, its legs would dislocate. More likely, it glided with its legs down. * Category:Lists